This Fox hunt is disgraceful

There's something deeply unpleasant about the 'Fox hunt', as the pursuit of Defence Secretary Liam Fox over his working relationship with former flatmate Adam Werritty has been dubbed in Westminster.

It's a campaign based more on a complicated and bitter legal dispute, as well as a tide of insinuation and innuendo, than fact. Last night, for instance, Labour's defence spokesman Kevan Jones, responding to Dr Fox's apology, declared: 'This is a man in denial.' Why don't you just say what you mean, Kevan?

And yet there can be no doubt that the Defence Secretary has behaved extremely foolishly, and in a way that may bring a glittering political career to an end, perhaps as early as today.

Has Liam Fox put an end to his political career by blurring the lines between work and friendship?

Colleagues - whose silence yesterday when Dr Fox needed support was both telling and disgraceful (Chris Huhne was the only member of the Cabinet to speak up for him) - do not believe he has done anything improper.

But they are bewildered as to how he has allowed a friendship to so cloud his professional judgement. Warnings from senior civil servants and military top brass about how the special access afforded by Dr Fox to Mr Werritty, who had no formal role at either the Ministry of Defence or the Conservative Party, might look to the outside world apparently went unheeded.

As the Defence Secretary was forced to concede last night, in what looked like an acutely uncomfortable statement for a proud man to have to make, his 'frequent contacts... may have given an impression of wrongdoing'.

To me, that seemed to anticipate at least a technical breach of the ministerial code. It states not only that ministers must ensure no conflict arises between their public duties and private interests, but also that none ‘could reasonably be perceived to arise’.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox with his best man Adam Werritty outside St Margaret's Church in Westminster. Werritty is also Fox's former flatmate and controversially his self-styled adviser.

Already, names in the frame for the defence job if Dr Fox is forced out are swirling around Westminster: Chris Grayling, Andrew Mitchell, Owen Paterson.

The Defence Secretary's fate now appears to lie in the hands of the Cabinet Secretary and Ursula Brennan, who will present their interim findings to the Prime Minister today.

Dr Fox's apology last night suggested he expects to be criticised for his judgement but believes that being cleared of wrongdoing will be enough to save him. There appear to have been no breaches of national security, or evidence of financial impropriety.

Furthermore, those betting on his departure should remember two things.

Dr Fox is seen as the keeper of the Thatcherite flame in the Cabinet - hosting the former prime minister at his 50th birthday party just weeks ago.

First, the Prime Minister has shown an admirable reluctance to offer up ministerial scalps when confronted with media firestorms. Think Andrew Lansley, Caroline Spelman, William Hague and Kenneth Clarke.

Second, Dr Fox is seen as the keeper of the Thatcherite flame in the Cabinet - hosting the former prime minister at his 50th birthday party just weeks ago. His departure to the backbenches would give those on the Tory Right who are disgruntled with the coalition what they have been missing: a leader.

That, in the end, is why Mr Cameron may calculate it's better to let Dr Fox ride out the storm.